Page 72 of A Gentleman's Wager

“And I told you I wouldn’t. I don’t owe you anything.” It was hard to believe that she’d come sobbing in his arms a few hours earlier. “Let go of me or I’ll scream.”

“I’m amused to discover what you think that will achieve. Do you imagine Lucerne will come running to your rescue, or Mr Aubury, perhaps?”

She had no doubt Charles would run in the opposite direction.

“Miss Stanley certainly has no claws of which to speak.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

His lips brushed against her sensitive pulse point on her neck. His teeth nipped. “You ought to be.”

“Let go.” She kicked him on the shin.

“Bitch!” He gripped her by the chin and squeezed her cheeks. “Don’t imagine that you can keep him.”

“Go hang yourself!” she snarled. Who the devil did he think he was? The recollection that he was rumoured to have maimed a past rival or two set her heart beating at a gallop. A wise woman would back down, but she refused to be cowed, and would not give up Lucerne. Not only did he enchant her, he was her escape from the utter tedium of raising brats with a local squire.

Vaughan’s dark eyes narrowed with malice. Bella held her breath as she waited for him to retaliate, but instead he turned on his heels and took himself off to the stag parlour.

A moment later Louisa arrived, with Charles and Lucerne following in quick succession.

Bella rubbed her neck, wondering if the devil had marked her. She tried smiling at Lucerne, but he appeared not to notice her. He took his position at the head of the table. “Shall we eat?”

Pennerley re-joined them.

It was the worst dinner of her life, and barely a whisper was spoken.

-41-

Bella

Bella retired immediately after the uncomfortable meal ended, eager to get away from Vaughan, even if it did mean he got to commandeer Lucerne’s attention for the evening. He’d scowled at her throughout the meal. Clearly, he knew of her indiscretion with Lucerne, and intended to make her pay for it. What form that would take, she couldn’t say, only that the prospect of it left her uneasy, but curiously excited too. Hadn’t she wanted adventure? Something more than the humdrum of everyday existence and petty slights.

She was still dwelling on his threats when a gentle knock sounded against her door. Louisa let herself in without waiting for a response.

“Heavens, Lou, is this going to be a new habit, you creeping about after dark in your nightrail? I’m exhausted, what is it?”

Louisa tip-toed towards her, hand cupped around her candle flame. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right. It’s not like you to retire so early. You’re not ill after today, are you?” She set the candlestick down on the chest of drawers.

Bella gave a lavish yawn, not the slightest bit exaggerated. “I’m tired is all. You don’t need to fuss, I’m not ailing with anything.” Head heavy, she snuggled deeper into the eiderdown. Dreamland beckoned.

“I wondered.” Louisa wrung her hands. “Was Lord Marlinscar very cross with you?”

“Was he…” Why in heaven’s name would Lucerne be cross with her. Oh, of course, he’d imagined her lost on the hillside. “No, Louisa, he wasn’t cross. Wait, how did you even know we’d spoken of it? Pennerley told you, I suppose.”

“T’was Charles, actually, and it wasn’t so much that he told me, as I overheard him speaking to the marquis. Bella, you oughtn’t to have gone to his rooms alone like that. It’s not proper.”

Bella waved off the remark. “I don’t see that his sitting room is any different to his study. We’d still have been alone, with a closed door between us and the world. In any case, it’s such a silly rule, we’re all living under the same roof.”

“So, nothing untoward happened?”

Despite her drooping eyelids, Bella’s grin nevertheless stretched broad. “I wouldn’t call it untoward.”

“So, he was forward?”

“He was delicious. Oh, Lou, don’t look at me so. Yes, I know that you’re frowning, even if I can barely keep my eyes open. Please stop it. I don’t pass judgement on you—”

“Yes, you do.” Louisa snapped, cutting her off. “You do it all the time. And it’s not fair or just. Just because I don’t lift my skirts for every man I’ve a passing fancy for, doesn’t mean that I don’t… that I don’t have desires… or want those things… with Frederick.”